For Casey, a master’s student from China, who asked to be referred to by a pseudonym for safety reasons, increasing restrictions on student visas for Chinese nationals, coupled with an unclear policy application, made the implementation feel far away from reality.
In conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. State Department announced on May 28 it would “aggressively revoke” visas belonging to Chinese international students, including those “with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.” The policy also emphasized increased “scrutiny” for all future visa applications belonging to prospective students from China and Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China.
“The United States will not tolerate the CCP’s exploitation of U.S. universities or theft of U.S. research, intellectual property or technologies to grow its military power, conduct intelligence collection or repress voices of opposition,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said during a press briefing.
In a June 11 TruthSocial post, President Donald Trump said the U.S. has tentatively agreed to “provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities.” No official deal between the two countries has been announced.
Chinese international students made up the second-highest portion of all international students at UT in 2024, and since at least 2014, Chinese international students have been within the top five most represented countries, according to Texas Global data.
Casey said they were not surprised about the policy arrival. They acknowledged that obtaining a visa always had its challenges. For now, Casey said they await the future impacts related to the policy, while being conscious of peers who study science or math-based fields.
“It’s ridiculous,” Casey said. “How can the United States government know if a student is connected (to the CCP) or not? I would say it’s more like a performance for their people to see.”
While the first wave of student visa revocations was justified under national security interests at the discretion of Secretary of State Marco Rubio under the Immigration and Nationality Act, it is currently unclear how identification of affiliation with the CCP or work in “critical fields” will be put into practice, said Faye Kolly, an Austin-based immigration attorney at McChesney Kolly PLLC.
“There is a legal basis to revoke a visa,” Kolly said. “Whether or not that legal basis is justified in revoking a visa is the question, and that’s what we don’t know.”
Kolly pointed to a long-standing principle that Chinese nationals may have joined the CCP to gain admission to college, but it was not necessarily an indication of active membership.
The decision to highly scrutinize and revoke student visas for Chinese nationals aligns with the State Department revisions to its expanded social media vetting strategy, Kolly said. On Wednesday, the State Department announced it would resume interviews for new student visa applicants in a cable first obtained by Politico, following a three-week pause.
Kolly explained the revocation of a visa alone does not mean a student’s legal status is also terminated. The student visa is based on the “Certificate of Eligibility” form, which proves the student is legally enrolled, Kolly said. If the form is terminated, a student’s legal status is brought into question.
Patricia Maclachlan, a professor of government and Asian studies, was one of over 700 U.S. scholars who signed a petition against the visa restrictions on Chinese students, urging Rubio to “delay its implementation pending further review and engagement” with stakeholders.
“It is my firm belief that the participation of international students in U.S. programs helps build the enduring people-to-people linkages that fuel our business, cultural, scientific and diplomatic ties with other countries,” Maclachlan wrote. “This is no less true for students from China.”
